


The Phone Call

by tsuki_llama



Category: Darker Than Black
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-22
Updated: 2017-11-22
Packaged: 2019-02-05 07:22:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12789615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsuki_llama/pseuds/tsuki_llama
Summary: PostDistractionsAU. Five years after the Tokyo Explosion, Hei returns to Tokyo and attempts to contact Misaki. Not canon for Distractions! Just an idea that was bouncing around in my head...





	The Phone Call

Hei had been sitting on the bench for ten minutes before the bus arrived. A small crowd of people exited; a smaller crowd boarded. Hei stayed on the bench. The bus lingered half a minute longer than was necessary; when Hei didn't stand, the driver closed the door and pulled away, revealing once again the scene across the street. In particular, the pay phone.

He sighed in frustration and stared at the phone. It was just a phone. Why was the thought of walking up to it so much more terrifying than any contractor that he'd had to face?

At last, Hei stood. As soon as there was a break in the morning traffic, he walked briskly across the street and straight up to the phone. He dropped some coins into the slot, then dialed the number that he had memorized. On the other end, the line rang once before a woman's recorded voice answered.

"Thank you for calling the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Public Security Bureau Division of Foreign Affairs. If you are calling to report a contractor-related incident, please press 'zero' now. For inquiries relating to the First Foreign Affairs Division, including anti-Russian, Eastern European, and Communist concerns, press 'one'. For inquiries relating to the Second Foreign Affairs Division, including anti-Chinese and North Korean concerns, please press 'two'."

Hei waited impatiently as the voice slowly ran through the list of departments until she reached "Fourth Foreign Affairs Division, including Contractor Relations". He pressed the number four.

"If you are an unregistered contractor who would like to register for a contractor ID, please press 'one'. If you know the extension of the person you would like to speak to, please enter it now."

The voice explained several more options; none of them seemed like the right one. Hei had never had occasion to call or even visit Section Four before, but from everything that Misaki had said, it had sounded like a small department. Things must have changed.

When the menu had ended, the voice gave him the choice of listening to it again, or speaking with the operator. He chose the latter, and after several rings, a live human answered.

"Thank you for calling Foreign Affairs Section Four. How can I direct your call?"

"Um, may I speak with Director Kirihara, please?"

"What is your an access code?"

"Access code? Uh, I don't have an access code."

"I'm sorry, the Director doesn't take unsolicited calls. If you will state the reason for your call, I can connect you with the appropriate representative."

He should have realized that it wouldn't be as simple as just calling and asking for her. _I just want to say hello_. "I, uh, it's about what happened five years ago - at the Gate."

"Detective Saitou handles all matters pertaining to the Tokyo Explosion. Shall I transfer you to his assistant?"

"Saitou? Uh…" Hei wasn't sure if that would be a good idea or not. But before he could make a decision, another recorded voice interrupted.

"Your time has expired. If you would like to continue the call, please deposit an additional ten yen."

 _Damn it_. He hung up the phone and leaned against the metal cabinet. Sighing to himself, he fished some more coins from his pocket and deposited them into the phone.

"Thank you for calling the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Public Security Bureau Division of Foreign Affairs. If you are calling to report a contractor-related incident, please press 'zero' now."

Hei jabbed the _zero_ button. The phone rang twice.

"Thank you for calling the Contractor Relations Contractor Hotline. Your call will be recorded, but you may remain anonymous if you choose. What is your location?"

"My location?" Hei asked dumbly; then he realized that the bored man's voice on the other end belonged to an actual person. "That doesn't matter; I need to speak with Director Kirihara."

"Do you have an access code?"

With difficulty, Hei resisted the urge to slam the receiver into the wall. "No. I don't have an access code."

"Director Kirihara doesn't take anonymous calls. However, I can file an incident report on your behalf; the Director reviews them all herself. Do you have a profile with us?"

"No." Well, he probably _did_ have some sort of profile in Section Four's files, but he didn't think that that was the type of profile the man was talking about.

"Very well. Are you a contractor or human?"

Technically…. "Human."

"Date of birth?"

"It's - um, hang on."

He pulled his wallet from his jean's pocket and flipped it open to his fake ID. He'd gotten it in a hurry and stupidly hadn't taken the time to memorize the essentials. But wait. He wanted to talk to Misaki, so he was calling as himself, so…should he give his actual birth date? "It's…huh. I…don't know."

Fifteen years of false identities, false names, and false birthdays. He knew the year that he had been born, but he couldn't state with any certainty what day, or even what month.

"Sir, I have other calls on hold. If you aren't going to take this seriously -"

"Look, will filling out your report get me in contact with Director Kirihara?"

"If you want to speak with the Director," the man said irritably, "you have to go through Contractor Relations. Set up a profile, and they will enter your request. It will go to the Director's office and her assistant will review it along with all of the other requests. If yours is deemed worth a callback, the Director's assistant will call you at the number you provide to set up an appointment."

Hei sighed. "Thanks," he said, and hung up the phone. He didn't _have_ a number to give out, except maybe this pay phone. And he wasn't going to camp out at the pay phone next door to Section Four's headquarters, hoping that Misaki's assistant would call him. What kind of a request would he list, anyway? _I_ _'m sorry that I left you the way that I did five years ago and you probably don't care anymore, but I'm in town again and I just wanted to see you and say hello if I could, but I don't want to give anyone else my name in case they decide to try and arrest me._

This would be so much easier if he could just go talk to her in person. But he was sure that he'd have even less luck walking into the building. He would go to her apartment, but she'd moved at some point and her new address was unlisted - even in the prefecture's records. He'd have to break into the police departments classified personnel files to get the information; but somehow he didn't think that Misaki would appreciate that effort.

He could follow her home from work. But if she drove, he wouldn't be able to keep up. Unless he stole a car, and - no. No stealing cars.

Another alternative was locating her Porsche (there was no doubt in his mind that she still drove that particular car) in the parking garage and waiting for her, then - no. He wasn't going to _stalk_ her like some lunatic. She'd probably shoot him before he could get a word out.

But he wasn't going to get anywhere with the phone. At least, not with the general PSB line.

Glancing up and down the street to make sure that no one was paying any particular attention to him, Hei stuffed his hands into his pockets and headed next door to the PSB headquarters building. But instead of going in, he walked past the entrance, turned the corner, and then turned into the alley behind the building. Two large dumpsters flanked a stairwell exit.

He hadn't been dumpster diving in years, and it had never been his favorite task; but still, it was one of the basics of espionage. Even in high security facilities, people just weren't careful about what they threw away. Hei pulled out the first black trash bag and went to work.

Half an hour later, he found a bag containing paperwork from Section Four's director's office; all nonconfidential, and none with any kind of phone number. However, there were also about three weeks' worth of receipts for nearly daily lunch deliveries, all from a sushi restaurant just a few blocks away. The name on all the receipts was _Aoyama_ , but the majority of the lunches ordered included tempura or some otherwise fried and greasy dish.

Hei checked his pockets: he had enough change left for two phone calls. He returned to the pay phone and dialed the restaurant.

"Hey, I've got that delivery for Aoyama," he said, holding the receiver well away from his face to allow the background traffic noise to help mask his voice. "But no one came down to the lobby to meet me, and I forgot to bring the contact number with me - what is it?"

"Renzo?" a confused voice replied. "I thought you took that order out twenty minutes ago."

"Yeah, like I said; there was no one in the office. Give me the number, and I'll call up so I can drop it off."

"Hang on. Okay, here it is…"

Hei committed the number to memory, then hung up. Inserting the last of his change, he dialed.

An unfamiliar woman answered. "Director Kirihara's office."

Hei exhaled in relief. "Uh, may I speak with Director Kirihara, please?"

Unlike the previous faceless voices he'd spoken with, this one sounded genuinely apologetic. "I'm sorry, the director is in meetings all day. Would you like to leave a message?"

 _Damn it_. "Um, no, that's okay; it'd be better if I spoke with her in person."

"I see," the woman said, a hint of disapproval in her voice. "Well, her calendar is booked solid for the next six weeks, but I can pencil you in for October. What is your affiliation?"

"Oh - what?"

"What is your affiliation? Which interest group do you represent?"

"I don't know what that means." Hei ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

Misaki's assistant sighed. "I take it you haven't been filtered through Contractor Relations then? Well, I've got a minute - let me get your profile. Human or contractor?"

"You mean, am I…?"

"Yes."

Great, not this question again. Which answer would be the most likely to get Misaki's attention? "Uh…"

"It's a simple enough question."

"Contractor, I guess?"

"You guess," the assistant said flatly.

"Sure. Contractor."

"Uh huh. Do you have a Messier code, by any chance?"

 _To hell with it then_. "BK-201."

His answer was met with silence on the other end of the line.

"Sorry, I probably shouldn't have called," Hei said. This had been the most pointless waste of time. "I'll try to catch her ano-"

"Please hold while I put you through."

There was a click; then bland, tinny music began to play. Hei stared at the phone in surprise.

~~~~o~~~~

"You know how I feel about that, Mr. Yokota," Misaki said levelly. "My opinion on the new policy hasn't changed in the last week, and won't change any time soon; not until you manage to draft a regulation that treats contractors like actual _people_. It's been five years since the Tokyo Explosion, we should be well past this by now."

She stared down the section chiefs; wisely, no one argued the point.

"Now if that's settled, let's move on to the report from Section Two." A buzz from the conference room phone interrupted her. Misaki glanced at the number; it was Aoyama's line. She picked up the receiver. "Yes, what is it?"

"I'm so sorry to interrupt, ma'am," her assistant said, "but I have a caller on your _through_ list."

"Who is it?" Misaki asked. All her section chiefs were here, and friends and family all had her cell number; had the superintendent disliked her proposal so much that he was going to demand an early meeting?

"He claims to be BK-201."

Misaki's heart nearly stopped. For a moment she was speechless; then, collecting herself, she hung up the phone. "Excuse me, gentlemen; I have to take this in private."

They all bowed their acknowledgments as she stood from the table and left the conference room. Aoyama met her outside her office.

"Are you sure?" Misaki asked quietly. "BK-201?"

Aoyama gave a small shrug. "That's what he said. We haven't had any prank callers pretending to be the Black Reaper in a long time - do you think this guy is the real deal?"

Misaki could tell that her assistant was attempting to hide her curiosity as to why an infamous contractor with a warrant out for his arrest was on her automatic _through_ list. The entire department had heard the story of the Tokyo Explosion: how BK-201 had changed sides, turned against the Syndicate, and spared the lives of thousands, if not millions of people. Most didn't believe it. And even if it was true, that didn't change the fact that he was wanted for questioning in a number of deaths during his time in Tokyo, that he had run and refused to turn himself in, and that he remained unregistered in any country.

"I have no idea," Misaki admitted, struggling to keep the hope from rising. "How - how did he sound?"

"I don't know. Confused, I guess."

She couldn't stop her smile. "That sounds like him. I'll take the call in my office."

Her assistant nodded and returned to her desk, while Misaki shut her office door and sat down at her own desk. After a moment, a little green light began blinking on her phone. She took a deep breath, then lifted the receiver and pressed the button for line one. "This is Director Kirihara."

~~~~o~~~~

Her voice sounded a bit odd at first, then Hei realized that he'd never actually spoken to her on the phone before. But it was her. It was really Misaki. He was almost too shocked to say anything.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Uh," Hei said, before she could hang up. Now that he actually had her on the line, he had no idea what to say. "Hi."

"Hei." Was that relief in her voice, or was he just imagining it?

"Um, I hope I'm not interrupting anything important?"

"Of course not! I mean, I was in a meeting, but these days I'm in meetings all the time. It's fine. Are you…are you back in town? Kanami said your star…"

"Oh. Yeah. I arrived last night."

"I see. How long are you staying?"

"I don't know."

"Oh."

He rubbed the back of his head in frustration. There were a million things that he wanted to say to her, but he had no idea how to start. He especially didn't know how to say them over the phone. "Yeah. Um, I guess…Misaki, I guess I just wanted to say -"

There was a click. Then a voice said, "Your time has expired. If you would like to continue the call, please deposit an additional ten yen."


End file.
